4 min readJul 23, 2026 06:40 PM IST
First published on: Jul 23, 2026 at 06:40 PM IST
“May you live and have a lively year/ Be fearless as a tiger, sharp as the fox/ Bring relief like the snow and remain steadfast as the Himalayas./ Keep coming to see us each year in this month of greening.”
This is the blessing children in rural Uttarakhand receive each year from their family elders on the festival of Harela. Mothers and sisters touch the young ones from head to toe with fresh young shoots of five grains grown in baskets exactly nine days prior to Harela. The soft green blades signal the return of the sowing season in the hills. Touching the green blades of saplings to the bodies of family members and wearing them in your caps is believed to bring good health and good luck through the year.
This year however, on July 16, the day of the merry green festival was marred by news of a youth-led “Black Harela” demonstration staged across towns in Uttarakhand. Young Uttarakhandis had lodged an angry protest against the proposed chopping down of some 4,000 mature trees in a massive drive to widen the national highway and link roads. “Is cutting down 4,000 trees in Rishikesh to save 30 minutes for tourists worth it ?” the protesters ask.
Anoop Nautiyal, social activist and a local man, questioned the absence of public information regarding the mass felling of vital green cover. The capital Dehradun, he says, accounts for 21,618 hectares – or almost 47 per cent – of all forest land diverted across Uttarakhand for infrastructural expansions, including the Bhaniyawala-Rishikesh highway. Ironical when you consider that the government – like other states – is also driving another big abhiyan: Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (Plant a tree in the name of the mother). An RTI reply Nautiyal got in June revealed that since the formation of the state in 2000, 46,203 hectares of forest land has been diverted towards various projects.
In the Doon valley, knowledgeable locals point out, the planned felling will directly affect the entire ecologically sensitive area that houses the Shivalik Elephant Reserve and several other wildlife corridors. Local conservationists have a point when they say how building activity in this ecologically sensitive area has increasingly made the hills fragile and subject to landslides. Widening the roads and building infrastructural support for roads, bridges and tunnels will also use up already scant groundwater and deprive the new saplings of an irreplaceable, centuries-old canopy. Without that and the copious rainwater retention undertaken by mature trees, has anyone thought about how the saplings will survive and how long they will take to become mature enough to replace what is being destroyed without thought?
A strange situation has developed in our state, says Nautiyal in a clip on his Facebook page. Our government seems adamant on chopping up trees in the holy month of Harela that celebrates the resurgence of new life. Why is the Chief Minister permitting this? What message does this send to local voters? He quotes poet Dinkar’s moving lines: “Jab nash manuj par chhata hai,/ Pehle vivek mar jata hai (When you are headed for total destruction, the first to go is your common sense)”.
The writer is former chairperson, Prasar Bharati
Touching the green blades of saplings to the bodies of family members and wearing them in your caps is believed to bring good health and good luck through the year. 
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